Family celebrates connection to Civil War drummer boy

ST. THOMAS -- As a drummer boy, Henry Clay Estep marched across the Mid Atlantic with Company B of the 49th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry as they fought for the Union in the Civil War.

Now, 150 years later, his family knows him through the service records of his three years participating in the conflict. They can also see his face in a photograph - which shows him missing a left eye - that his granddaughter-in-law has at her St. Thomas home. They can read his name engraved on the State of Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg National Battlefield.

Urcille Estep's late husband is the grandson of Henry Estep. Their children and grandchildren - Henry's great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren - think it's "awesome" that their relative was part of a major chapter in American history.

PHOTO GALLERIES

"I'm really excited over it and I'm not even a blood relative," Urcille added.

That deep interest is built around the information provided on the service records, discharge papers and photograph that have been passed down through the family, and Urcille keeps at her home. The family today knows little else about Henry other than what they can read on those documents.
But still, "there's probably not too many people around who can say their great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather served in the Civil War in Gettysburg," said Robert Estep Jr., Urcille's oldest son.

Born in 1845, Henry completed his service in the Civil War before he turned 20 years old. Reading from his service records, Urcille said he enlisted Aug. 13, 1861, in Huntingdon County and joined his fellow troops in Harrisburg on Aug. 30, 1861, to begin serving.

According to his service records, Henry participated in the Union's Army of the Potomac in Virginia at Williamsburg, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill and Fredericksburg, and the Battle of Antietam in Maryland, between 1861-62.

In 1863, he was part of the Mud March (an event in which torrential rain and mud hindered Gen. Andrew Burnside's ability to redeem himself and the army after defeat in Fredericksburg), and battles at Chancellorsville, Va.; Gettysburg; and Rappahannock Station and Mine Run in Virginia.

Henry ended his service in Virginia, in the battles of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania County, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Winchester, in 1864.

Had any of these battles not gone Henry's way, it can be said that today's Estep family may not be. According to Robert, Urcille has a copy of the family's ancestry report that was generated in the 1970s.

"It all started with a drummer boy in the Civil War," Robert said.

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Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com and 262-4771.

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